Homeownership: The Joys, The Woes and the In-between

Fact: I've been a homeowner for approximately 2 years and 5 months (and some change) and it has been nothing short of rewarding, expensive, frustrating and exciting...all at the same time.

2 years and 5 months ago, I knew nothing about purchasing a home (there's still a learning curve if we're being honest). That was my now-husband's jam. He owned and had owned several properties before we met, and pretty much schooled me on all things real estate. He knows his stuff, I have to give it to him.

Back then, he was a serial open house attendee. We'd see a sign for an open house and he'd talk me into popping in just to be nosy. With our current house, he "surprised" me (aka wouldn't tell me where we were going until we pulled up) by taking me to the open house. In my head, it was just another house we were looking at for fun...you know, because we did that often. It wasn't until we started talking numbers and serious adult stuff that I was like "oh, shit. He's serious this time."

I love/d this house. 2 years ago, I could imagine me in it and I still imagine me in it 10+ years from now (with some new additions, of course). But what I didn't realize about homeownership before, was that...shit's expensive. Like, really, stupidly expensive. There are parts of our house that are still unfurnished...2+ years later. Within the first month of us being here, one of the A/C units died. We called our warranty company out to fix it, and they found a gecko that had apparently chewed on the wrong thing and blew both himself and a transmitter up. Thank God for home warranties, right? Wrong. Not when it's the gecko's fault... because warranty companies don't cover "nature." See? Expensive.

There's so much I dream of doing to this house, so many remodeling projects I've saved on hidden Pinterest boards, that just haven't come to fruition yet because...again, shit's expensive (and I probably married the most frugal man on this side of the Mississippi).

I was hesitant to share my home on the internet because, well, compared to most other blog-worthy homes, mine should take a back seat. But, comparison is the thief of joy. I want to be transparent in showing you that in reality, it takes time. No matter the size of the house. My living room, bedrooms and other rooms are incomplete. There are major(ish) renovation projects I want to start. But it will come. So in the meantime, I will count my blessings.

I think I'll make this a "thing"... that is, if anyone cares to hear about it. A home tour of such -- broken into pieces. I'll show you a part(s) of my home, things I want do to it, and someday (when the time comes) show you the progress. I'm also always open to ideas, inspiration and all those good things because I am certainly no interior designer.

Today, we'll start with one of my favorite rooms (what we call) "the fish room" and my kitchen.

This little room is probably the most intriguing parts of the whole house. We have a 560 gallon salt water aquarium! The previous owner has an exotic fish/aquarium business and basically built this house around the tank. It shares a wall with our dining room and can be viewed from either side. Pretty neat. But inheriting it = maintaining it and that's definitely not a cheap thrill.

I have grown to hate brown cabinets. So the plan in the future is to paint both the walls and cabinets white and replace the french doors with white ones as well.

My kitchen is the first thing on my "re-do" list. To me, it's becoming an eye sore after seeing a million white kitchens with marble counter tops and gold fixtures. The textured paint (which I admit I used to like) is overwhelming and combined with the dark granite and cabinets, makes the whole kitchen really dark. So, this is first on my list. We are currently gathering quotes for cabinet refacing and wall painting. The chandelier has got to go as well. I can find some patience with the backsplash, but I'm hoping that too is only temporary.

So there's that. We'll call this the "before". I really can't wait to start the process of making things a little more pretty. If there's anything I've learned from this experience that I could share with anyone else potentially going through the same struggle is...patience. And, to stop allowing Instagram and Pinterest posts to deter you from that patience.... because in real life, it doesn't happen over night (for the majority).